Bob Vylan on Glastonbury chant: I’d do it again tomorrow

Bob Vylan frontman Bobby Vylan has said he is “not regretful” of his Glastonbury chant and would “do it again tomorrow”.

The outspoken punk duo sparked controversy when they led chants of “death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)” at the festival in June.

Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast in his first interview since Glastonbury, Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, was asked if he stands by the chant and if he would do it again.

He replied: “Oh yeah. Like what if I was to go on Glastonbury again tomorrow, yes I would do it again. I’m not regretful of it. I’d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays.

“I’m not regretful of it at all, like the subsequent backlash that I’ve faced. It’s minimal.

“It’s minimal compared to what people in Palestine are going through. If that can be my contribution and if I can have my Palestinian friends and people that I meet from Palestine, that have had to flee, that have lost members in double digits of their family and they can say, yo, your chant, I love it. Or it gave me a breath of fresh air or whatever.

“And I don’t want to overstate the importance of the chant. That’s not what I’m trying to do, but if I have their support, they’re the people that I’m doing it for, they’re the people that I’m being vocal for, then what is there to regret. Oh, because I’ve upset some right-wing politician or some right-wing media?”

Vylan’s conversation with Theroux was recorded on October 1 and at the start of the episode the presenter notes it took place before the Manchester synagogue attacks on October 2, in which two people were killed and three others injured, and before the ceasefire in Gaza came into effect on October 10.

The musician said he was taken aback by the uproar sparked by the chant, which was described by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “appalling hate speech”, and said members of BBC staff told him the set was “fantastic”.

The corporation’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has since found the BBC’s broadcast of the performance breached editorial standards in relation to harm and offence.

He said: “I had no expectations. I honestly hadn’t heard it (the reaction). I hadn’t seen it. Because obviously there was a lot happening at the time. Do you know what I mean?

“It wasn’t like we came off stage, and everybody was like (gasps). It’s just normal. We come off stage. It’s normal. Nobody thought anything. Nobody. Even staff at the BBC were like “That was fantastic! We loved that!”

Vylan also hit back at Damon Albarn from Blur, who said the chant was “one of the most spectacular misfires I’ve seen in my life, especially when he started goose-stepping in tennis gear”.

He said of Albarn: “It was disappointing. Because it lacked self-awareness, I think, his response.

“I just want to say that categorising it as a “spectacular misfire” implies that somehow the politics of the band or our stance on Palestinian liberation is not thought out.

“And as a more senior, experienced, veteran artist – he’s been in this industry for a long time – I think that there were other ways that he could have handled that question being fielded to him.

“I take great issue with the phrase ‘goose-stepping’ being used because it’s only used around Nazi Germany. That’s it. And for him to use that language, I think is disgusting. I think his response was disgusting.”

Asked what he meant by the chant “Death to the IDF,” Vylan said: “My whole issue with this thing is that the chant is so unimportant. It’s so unimportant, and the response to it was so disproportionate.

“What is important is the conditions that exist to allow that chant to even take place on that stage. And I mean, the conditions that exist in Palestine. Where the Palestinian people are being killed at an alarming rate.

“Who cares about the chant? It’s like, what is it that is allowing for that chant to even exist? That’s what the focus should have always been on it.”

He added: “An end to the oppression that Palestinian people are facing. An end to the apartheid regime that has been created, an end to that. “End, End the IDF” does not rhyme, wouldn’t have caught on, would it? You know what I mean?

“Because that is what we are up there to do. We are there to entertain. We are there to play music. I am a lyricist. “Death, Death to IDF” rhymes. Perfect chant.”

Vylan also rejected claims the set contributed to a spike in antisemitic incidents reported two days later.

He said: “I don’t think I have created an unsafe atmosphere for the Jewish community. If there were large numbers of people going out and going like “Bob Vylan made me do this”. I might go, oof, I’ve had a negative impact here.”

He added he believes the band has received more criticism than others for speaking about the conflict.

He said: “Maybe I’m being naive or maybe I’m kind of focusing too much on ‘self’ there, but I think we’ve been attacked to a degree that I haven’t really seen anybody else attacked for speaking up about this issue.”

When Theroux suggested Irish band Kneecap have also faced backlash for their approach, Vylan, who is of Jamaican heritage, said: “That’s an interesting one.

“It’s an interesting one because as with everything race comes to play a part in that we are an easier villain, no pun intended, than they are because we are already the enemy.

“So, you don’t really need to give much context as to why the British public should hate us. That’s tricky.”

Published: 21/10/2025 by Radio NewsHub